Accounting tests can be challenging
Accounting exams can be challenging, testing many concepts and involving a lot of calculation. Exams may include multiple-choice questions, true-false questions or word problems to be solved. Many exams are a combination of all of these and are designed to test both the theory and practice of accounting. Some testing sites allow the use of a calculator, so it makes sense to bring one.
Highlight
If allowed by the test giver, use a highlighter to mark the important items in a problem. Many times superfluous information is added to the problem that can cause confusion. Highlight dates, numbers and other pertinent information. This helps you pay attention to the problem and not unimportant details. Don't highlight the entire problem, just numbers, dates and pertinent info.
Read Questions
Read the questions for each problem first, and then read the text. This is especially important on long problems, when you need to focus on the required data to get a correct answer. Otherwise you can spend too much time on items that are not important in the context of the question. For example, when a question is about depreciation expense, you need to focus on the information you need to get to that answer: Cost of asset, life, salvage value and dates.
Recalculate
Be careful with your calculations, even if you use a calculator. Make sure to account for dates when answering questions. Often accounting problems are about timing and calculate numbers based on dates. Pay a lot of attention to exactly what is asked, and make a point of recalculating all your answers if you have time at the end of the test. It is easy to forget that interest, for example, was supposed to be calculated on three months only and not the entire year, but your original calculations were for a year---a common mistake.
Do the Easiest First
Identify the problems you know solve and do them first. This is good time management. Once you get the easy ones out of your way, focus on the more difficult ones. If you do problems in sequence, you may spend too much time on complicated problems and may not have enough time for the rest.
Read the problem and see if you can do it right away. If you have to think or wonder too much, move on to the next problem.
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